The vast steppe

Vast is the word I’d use to describe the Argentinian steppe. My experience so far is that Argentina is full of beautiful open spaces; low scrub; large, massive lakes and sharp, steep mountains. It does really feel like cattle country except I have not seen any.

I like the roads, they are straight and smooth. The other day we travelled from El Calafate to El Chalten. The roads were so smooth compared to Chile. We took a hitchhiker called Celine from Corsica. We had some great conversation, Celine is a well travelled woman.

So what have I observed so far about Argentina? 

• There are still heaps of pedestrian crossings in both towns but they just indicate where pedestrians may wish to cross because no cars actually stop, unlike in Chile.
• I was going to say that Argentina has better quality fruit and veg than Chile but that was just one supermarket, the rest are not so flash.
• The banana type here, grown in Ecuador, is delicious and sweet... nicer I might say from the Australian cavendish.
• Everything seems somewhat cheaper however, for us, that may be offset by the cost of obtaining the necessary cash.
• Buildings here look more ranch like. They are more solid and made of bricks and stone. They have a real permanent feel. This is in comparison to the buildings made of wood and chipboard in Chile. I wish I’d taken photos in Chile: they appear to make most buildings in Chile on little concrete stands then build a wooden frame, clad it in chip board and then cover that in wooden slats or wooden tiles. Here is an example of the buildings however these are more the interesting rather than the ‘typical’.

• Argentinian Patagonia (at least El Calafate and El Chalten) the buildings are more like the below. They are made on concrete slabs, with walls of stone or brick (I've not seen any wooden frames so they are potentially built using that brick and stone as the load baring walls, not just cladding like is done in Canberra).